iView: My Favorite iOS 4 and iPhone 4 Discoveries

When the iPad came out, I gravitated from my 3GS to the larger iPad screen for running game and productivity apps. However, I am back using the iPhone 4 much of the time because of its HD screen and new iOS 4 features (which also work on the 3GS, but are not yet available for the iPad). Here are some of my favorite discoveries.

 

iOS 4: Multitasking tips


The iPhone 4 is significantly and noticeably faster than the 3GS. In addition, the new iOS 4 multitasking option lets you do many things more quickly and efficiently. Start the multitasking feature by clicking the Home button twice, and you will see a new bottom row of app icons appear.

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Quickly switch to a different app: Press the home button twice from any app and a row displaying the apps currently running on your device will slide up from the bottom of the phone. Scroll left or right to find the app you want, and tap on it to launch it.


Quickly switch to an app from within the current folder: Open an app from one of your folders. Hit the Home button once. You’ll return to the original folder with all its apps displayed. You can now launch another app from that same folder.


When playing music, quickly pause, play, start over, or go to next song from outside of the iPod app: Hit the home button twice to bring up the multitasking bar. Swiping from left to right will bring up your iPod buttons.

Quickly lock portrait orientation: Follow the previous directions to bring up the iPod buttons. The portrait lock button is the one on the far left.

iOS 4: More tips

Spotlight is a powerful search mechanism built into the iPhone. From any screen, click the Home button to go to the Home screen. Click the home button again and the Spotlight search will slide into view. Alternately, if you’re already on the Home screen, you can swipe to the right to bring up Spotlight search.

Determine order of Spotlight search categories: I have a ton of contacts and music, but I use Spotlight mostly to quickly find and launch apps. To change the order in which the search categories show up, go to Settings >General >Spotlight Search. Drag the categories into your preferred order by grabbing the three lined icon to the right of the titles.

Search Google and Wikipedia from Spotlight: Scroll to bottom of your Spotlight search and you’ll find the Search Web and Search Wikipedia options. To select Google, yahoo, or Bing as your Web search engine, go to Settings>Safari>Search Engine, and put a check next to the one you want to use.

Organize your folders in iTunes: Reader Patrick Julian sent me this tip. In iTunes on the desktop, click the iOS 4 device in the left column. Click on the Apps tab. Open the folder that you want to put the specific apps into by double clicking it. Check (or uncheck and then recheck) the box for the app you want to put in the folder. The app will show up in the open folder. Be sure to sync so the changes appear on the iOS 4 device.

Zoom when taking a photo: Launch the camera app. Tap the screen anywhere, and you’ll see the Zoom slider. This feature does not work for videos or the front facing camera.

Quickly search Notes, iPod, Mail, Contacts and Messages (plus scroll to top in Safari and many other native apps): Simply touch the time (or any place on the top bar). You will end up at the very top of the screen where the search bar resides (works in rpevios OS versions).

iPhone 4 tips

Call with FaceTime without using AT&T: FaceTime calls don’t use up your AT&T minutes. You can skip AT&T completely by using the Internet to call another iPhone 4 user in FaceTime. If you called the person before in FaceTime, look in "Recents" in the Phone app. Otherwise, open the contact, scroll to bottom of the screen, and you’ll see "FaceTime" as an option along with "Text Message," "Share Contact," and "Add to Favorites."

Reading on your iPhone 4: The HD screen on the iPhone 4 really makes a huge difference. To my surprise, I enjoy reading text on my iPhone 4 as much as on my iPad. I find the iPad to be heavy and awkward compared to the iPhone 4. I also don’t think there’s much difference between the Kindle and iBooks apps. After 15 minutes, whatever I am using becomes my favorite. In both cases, I almost like reading books on the iPhone 4 as much as having a physical book. I thought I’d never say that, but HD makes all the difference.

Watch your iPhone 4 movies and YouTube videos on larger screens: Apple’s iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter ($29.00; store.apple.com/us/product/MC552) will also work with the iPhone 4. For now you will only be able to use it to view movies from YouTube and iTunes.

Call without losing signal strength: Perhaps, you’ve heard of the problem of gripping your iPhone 4 in the wrong spots causes interference with the AT&T signal. We’ve got the solution:

Original idea from The Frogman (thefrogman.me)

Issue: 
Sept/Oct 2010
Department/Section: 
Regular Departments
TOC Weight: 
9